Friday, December 17, 2010

Winner, Winner. Chicken Dinner.

After trying several recipes for cut out cookies, I think I've finally found THE ONE. This one I found in the America's Test Kitchen Christmas Cookie edition. As soon as I picked this up at the store I knew it was coming home with me. It was beautiful, each recipe has an explanation and picture. To me, recipe books without pictures of EVERY recipe tend to sit on my shelf and get dusty. So as I got home with my goodies for the weekend ready to bake (due to the impending 20 inches of snow we were expected to get in 24 hours), I was ready to bake.

I opened the book, flipped though the recipes more carefully and I spotted the one that sparked my interest: Macadamia-Eggnog Creams. Now, the title didn't really catch me, it was the photograph of the perfect little stars that were iced so sweetly with the nuts just sprinkled on top. What makes this recipe different than all the other cut-out cookies I've tried, is that the cookie itself has a yummy flavor. Not your regular so-so not so unique flavor, but a different flavor that doesn't impose on you (like the orange cut-outs I tried with my nieces  -yuck). All I wanted from this recipe was the basic cookie part, not the icing or nut part, and to my delight, it mixed very well with my cream cheese icing. But, the icing does have a little bit of a pull that I think I'll try next time (it has eggnog and rum in it).



Combine and set aside.
31/2 cups AP flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

On med/high speed beat
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
until light and fluffy (2 minutes).

Beat in1 lg egg at room temp until incorporated.
Reduce speed to low and alternate additions of the flour mixture and 1/2 cup of eggnog,
mixing after each addition until combined.
Divide dough into quarters, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, 1 hour.

Roll out to 1/8 inch thickness and place on parchment paper lined baking sheets. 
Bake at 375 8-10 minutes just until edges start to brown slightly.


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